Apparatus for propelling vessels.



' A. AHLBRECHT.- APPARATU$ FOR PROPELLING VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.27, 1910.

Patented Dec. 5, 1911 2 sums-sum 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGIAPH COn'IASHING'lDN, D. C.

A. AHLBREOHT. v APPARATUS FOR PROPBLLING VBSSELS. APPLICATION r'nlnp3.27, 1910. 1,010,716, Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

' 2 slums-sum 2.

AUQUSTAHLBRECHT, or IT S RGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS ron rnornLLrNe vnssnrs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

Application filed April 27, 1910. Serial No. 557,912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, AUGUST AHLBRnor-IT, a citizen of the United States,residing at 'Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparatus for Propelling Vessels; and- I do declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters andfigures of reference marked thereon, which form a 'part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for propelling aerialand other vessels, and it consists in afolding or collapsible propellercapable of being opened or closed, means for giving the same areciprocating movement, means for opening and closing said propelleratthebeginning and end of said movement, whereby the mini-v mum andmaximum resistance will be offered to the air or water to propel thevessel,.and the invention further consists in the certain details ofconstruction and combination of parts as, will be fully describedhereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings ;Figure 1 is a side central sectionalelevation of my improved apparatus for propelling vessels, the samebeing constructed and arranged in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2is a plan view of a portion of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear sectionalelevation of the apparatus said section taken on the line 00, m, of Fig.2.

To put my invention into practice and thereby provide an apparatus forthe purpose of propelling aerial vessels, such as aeroplanes, balloons,&c., or for the propulsion of ocean going vessels, I first provide asuitable frame 1, upon which is mounted a drive shaft 2 journaled inroller bearings 2, and connected by gear 6 to a motor (not shown) orother source of power. Connected to and operated by this drive shaft 2,is a cam or eccentric wheel 3, which operates two vertically-arrangedlevers 4, each of which are provided with contact rollers, and aresuitably pivoted to the frame 1. The upper ends of these levers 4 areconnected by links 7 to a horizontally-moving bar 9, said bar beingformed with two racks 10, located on the under side and at some distanceapart. This bar is capable of a reciprocating movement by the rotatableT" movement of the cam 3, operating on the connected vertically-disposedbars 4. Meshing with the racks 10, above mentioned, are pinions 11,mounted in bearings 13 upon shafts 12, and attached to toothed wheels14. These toothed wheels 14 are in mesh with vertically-arranged rackbars 14, mountedin slides 15, and the one rack joined to the other by abar 16, in such manner thatthe tworacks will operate in unison. Arrangedupon this bar 16 and operating along the length of the same is a slidinghead 17, fitted with a depending double rack bar18, which is supportedin and operates freely through a cross-head 26. This cross-head ismounted in horizontal slide ways 26 extending the length of the frame 1,and it (said cross-headlis operated by cranks 34, attached to the endsof the drive shaft- 2, said cranks being connected by links, 33, to rackbars 32, the rack .portions 31, of which, are in mesh with pinions 29,mounted upon a counter shaft 30,. and said pinions are connected totoothed wheels 28, which are in mesh with rack bars 27, formed with orattached to said cross-head 26. It will be seen that by thus connectingthe cranks 34 to the cross-head, the latter will be given areciprocating movement.

Depending from the rear portion of the cross-head 26, is a frame 35,which supports a hollow stationary or fixed shaft 36, on which isloosely mounted a sliding supplemental frame 39, carrying a rack 37 andat its forward end a spider 39, said spider being formed with a seriesof peripheral lugs 40 to which ropes 43 may be attached. To give thisframe 39 and its connected parts a back and forward movement, gear wheel25 is employed, said gear-being mounted upon a shaft 25 which is fittedwith two other gear wheels 25, which latter are in mesh with racks 24formed on slide bars 22, which are provided with racks 23 at theirforward ends, said latter racks being in mesh with pinions 21, mountedin and carried by the cross-head 26. These last described pinions 21 arealso in mesh with the racks 19 of .the vertically-moving bars dependingfrom the sliding head 17. The vertical movement of this rack 19, istransmitted through the medium of the pinion 21, the bar 22 and gear25", to the rack'38 and sliding frame 39. Upon the forward end of thefixed shaft 36, is a second spider 41, the arms of which are of greaterlength than of that (39) previously mentioned, and are each fitted attheir outer extremities with guide pulleys 42, over which ropes 4:3 arepassed, said ropes being connected to the smallspider 39,-and to therear of the folding propeller 4A. This propeller comprises anumbrella-shaped structure, capable of being opened and closed in thesame manner as the umbrella now in common use, and is constructed withsuitable ribs and flexible covering, and is supported upon a shaft orshank 45, which partially telescopes within the fixed shaft 36. Theforward end of the propeller 44 is provided with a clevis 46, which isconnected to a crank 47, said crank being supported and operated by ashaft 50, and given a rocking motion by a pinion d8 meshing with thefront rack 20 of the vertically moving bar 18. Upon a rearward movementof the crank 47 to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, and asimultaneous movement of the supplemental frame 39, and thecorresponding movement of the connecting ropes 43 the propeller isopened or extended to a flat conical-shaped body made up of triangularshaped segments, the one joined to the other, as will be best seen indotted lines in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Fig. 3, of the drawings.

The opening or extending of the propeller is timed to occur previouslyto the rearward movement of the cross-head 26, and the closing of saidpropeller at the beginning of the forward movement of said cross-head,thereby giving a maximum and then a minimum resisting power to the airor water through which it passes.

It is obvious that another propeller may be placed in front of thatabove-described and be operated by the same drive shaft 2, or that theymay be arranged in series, and that modifications and changes may bemade in the details of construction without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

A propeller for vessels comprising a folding umbrella-shaped bodyport-ion, a flexible covering for said body portion, means for openingsaid body portion at the beginning of its rearward stroke, means forclosing the same at the end of said stroke, and means for giving saidbody portion a reciprocating movement.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

AUGUST AHLBRECHT.

Witnesses:

D. B. OAKS, J. G. LEASURE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

